Your Mind Can Keep You Well
-The Simonton process of visualization for cancer
Dr. Carl Simonton, a radiation cancer specialist, and his wife,
Stephanie Matthews-Simonton, a psychotherapist and counselor
specializing in cancer patients, have developed a special visualization
or imaging technique for the treatment of cancer which is now popularly
known as the Simonton process. Ridiculed at first by
the medical profession, the Simonton process is now being used in at
least five hospitals across the United States to fight cancer.
The technique itself is the height of simplicity and utilizes the
tremendous powers of the mind, specifically its faculty for
visualization and imagination, to control cancer. First, the patient is
shown what a normal healthy cell looks like. Next, he is asked to
imagine a battle going on between the cancer cell and the normal cell.
He is asked to visualize a concrete image that will represent the cancer
cell and another image of the normal cell. Then he is asked to see the
normal cell winning the battle against the cancer cell.
One
youngster represented the normal cell as the video game character Pacman
and the cancer cell as the “ghosts” (enemies of Pacman), and then he
saw Pacman eating up the ghosts until they were all gone.
A
housewife saw her cancer cell as dirt and the normal cell as a vacuum
cleaner. She visualized the vacuum cleaner swallowing up all the dirt
until everything was smooth and clean.
Patients are asked to do
this type of visualization three times a day for 15 minutes each time.
And the results of the initial experiments in visualization to cure
cancer were nothing short of miraculous. Of course, being medical
practitioners, Dr. Simonton and his psychologist wife were aware of the
placebo effect and spontaneous remission of illness. As long as they
were getting good results with the technique, it didn’t seem to matter
whether it was placebo or spontaneous remission.
The Simontons
also noticed that those who got cured had a distinct personality. They
all had a strong will to live and did everything to get well. Those who
didn’t succeed had resigned themselves to their fate.
While the
Simontons were exploring the motivation of cancer patients, they were
also looking into two interesting areas of research at that time:
biofeedback and the surveillance theory. Both areas had something to do
with the influence of the mind over body processes. Stephanie Simonton
explains in her book The Healing Family:
In biofeedback
training, an individual is hooked up to a device that feeds back
information on his physiological processes. A patient with tachycardia,
an irregular heartbeat, might be hooked up to an oscilloscope, which
will give a constant visual readout of the heartbeat. The patient
watches the monitor while attempting to relax…when he succeeds in
slowing his heartbeat through his thinking, he is rewarded immediately
by seeing that fact on visual display.
The surveillance theory
holds that the immune system does in fact produce ‘killer cells’ which
seek out and destroy stray cancer cells many times in our lives, and it
is when this system breaks down, that the disease can take hold. When
most patients are diagnosed with cancer, surgery, radiation and/or
chemotherapy are used to destroy as much of the tumor as possible. But
once the cancer is reduced, we wondered if the immune system could be
reactivated to seek out and destroy the remaining cancer cells.
The Simontons reasoned that since people can learn how to influence
their blood flow and heart rate by using their minds, they could also
learn to influence their immune system. Later research proved their
approach to be valid.
For instance, according to the Time-Life
Book The Power of Healing, “chronic stress causes the brain to release
into the body a host of hormones that are potent inhibitors of the
immune system”. “This may explain why people experience increased rates
of infection, cancer, arthritis, and many other ailments after losing a
spouse.” Dr. R.W. Berthop and his associates in Australia found that
blood samples of bereaved individuals showed a much lower level of
lymphocyte activity than was present in the control group’s samples.
Lymphocytes are a variety of white blood cells consisting of T cells and
B cells, both critical to the action of the immune system. T cells
directly attack disease-causing bacteria, viruses, and toxins, and
regulate the other parts of the immune system. B cells produce
antibodies, which neutralize invaders or mark them for destruction by
other agents of the immune system.
The Power of Healing
concludes: “The idea that there is a mental element to healing has
gained acceptance within the medical establishment in recent years. Many
physicians who once discounted the mind’s ability to influence healing
are now reconsidering, in the light of new scientific evidence. All
these have led some physicians and medical institutions toward a more
holistic approach, to treating the body and mind as a unit rather than
as two distinct entities. Inherent in this philosophy is the belief that
patients must be active participants in the treatment of their
illnesses.
Using visualization for minor ailments
Creative visualization can create the same physiological changes in the
body that a real experience can. For example, if you imagine squeezing a
lemon into you mouth, you will most likely salivate, the same way as
when a real lemon is actually being squeezed into your mouth. Einstein
once declared that, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
In the 1985 World Conference on Imaging, reports OMNI magazine
(February 1989), registered nurse Carol Fajoni observed that “people who
used imagery techniques to heal wounds recovered more quickly than
those who did not. In workshops, the same technique has been used by
individuals suffering from colds with similar results.” The process has
been hailed as a positive breakthrough and is currently being used by
more enlightened doctors, according to OMNI magazine.
Visualize
that part of your body which is causing the problem. Then erase the
negative image and instead picture that organ or part to be healthy.
Let's say you have a sinus infection. Just picture your sinus
passageways and cavities as beginning to unclog. Or if you have a kidney
disorder, imagine a sick-looking kidney metamorphose into a healthier
one.
“In trying to envision yourself healthy, you need not view
realistic representations of the ailing body part. Instead, imagine a
virus as tiny spots on a blackboard that need erasing. Imagine yourself
building new, healthy cells or sending cleaning blood to an unhealthy
organ or area.”
“If you have a headache, picture your brain as a
rough, bumpy road that needs smoothing and proceed to smooth it out.
The point is to focus on the area you believe is causing you to feel
sick, and to concentrate on visualizing or imaging it to be well. The
more clearly and vividly you can do this, the more effective the
technique becomes.”
Another method for banishing pain was
developed by Russian memory expert, Solomon V. Sherehevskii, as reported
by Russian psychologist Professor Luria. To banish pain, such as a
headache, Sherehevskii would visualize the pain as having an actual
shape, mass and color. Then, when he had a “tangible” image of the pain
in his mind, he would visualize or imagine this concrete picture slowly
becoming smaller and smaller until it disappeared from his mental
vision. The real pain disappears with it. Others have modified this same
technique and suggest that you imagine a big bird or eagle taking the
concrete image of the pain away. As it flies over the horizon, see it
becoming smaller until it disappears from your view. The actual pain
will disappear with it.
Of course, the effectiveness of this
imaging technique depends on the strength of your desire to improve your
health and your ability to visualize well. But there is no harm in
trying it, because unlike drugs, creative visualization has no side
effects.
Practice any of these visualization techniques three times a day for one week and observe your health improve.
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